Dear Corporate Girlies

Hat, haircut, or tattoo?

By Katie Stanfield

Dear Corporate Girlies,

We make thousands of decisions every day, from what to wear to what time we need to leave the house to what we're going to eat and when. We're deep into decision fatigue before we get anywhere near an actual work problem. No wonder "what's for dinner?" feels like a personal attack by 6pm.

Here's the part that matters for your career though: hiring managers tell us constantly that decision-making is one of the things they screen hardest for, both in job candidates and who gets promoted.

So how do you get better at it? Honestly? By making bad decisions and dealing with the consequences. I'm not being cute. The best thing that ever happened to me as a new manager was working in an office with no supervisor on site. There was nobody above me to witness my mistakes, and nobody to protect me from them either. I had to live with the outcomes - good, bad, or in between.

That's a rare scenario now, and I wouldn't wish it on you. So I'm sharing a simple framework for making decisions:

Is it a hat, a haircut, or a tattoo?

A hat: Not working with the outfit? Take it off or swap it out. The stakes are low, don't overthink it.

A haircut: A bad one is annoying and you have to live with it for a while, but it grows out. The stakes are medium at best, make the call and move on.

A tattoo: That has staying power. The stakes are high, slow down and take your time.

My go-to questions when I need to make a decision and I'm uncertain about the scope or the risk:

Can this decision be reversed?
What's the downside if I get it wrong, and how likely is that, really?
What is the risk of doing nothing at all?

Because inaction is also a decision.

We're just scratching the surface. Learn how to be great at making decisions by recognizing your blind spots, avoiding common traps, and escaping analysis paralysis.

Power Skill of the Month: Building A Case

Some decisions (usually the tattoos) need somebody else to say yes. And the mistake most people make is bringing only half of what that person needs.

One of the best campaign pitches I've ever done was in partnership with a data analyst. He brought the numbers and the projections. I brought the narrative: real examples, what this actually looks like in different markets, why it plays out the way the model says it will. Our stakeholders left satisfied becuase they got the analytical rigor and the big picture.

Some people are persuaded by analysis. Others can look at every nmber you have and still not be persuaded until they can see it. Bring both and you don't have to guess.

Career Question of the Month

“Does your manager trust you with big decisions?”

Maybe you think you're being thoughtful when you ask your manager to weigh in every decision you make. What nobody else will tell you? It doesn't come across as thoughtful. It comes across as stuck. If your manager can't trust you to make small decisions independently, why would they trust you with big ones? We made a worksheet to help you work through the process and make a strong recommendation.

Want to talk about it? Send me an email or message me on LinkedIn.